History 9808A Digital History 8 September 2014

Today’s Agenda  Introductions  Me and the course  You  Digital History- What is it anyway?

Me  Contact information:  Lawson 1208  Office Hours: Mondays (before class)  x   Postdoctoral fellow in the Historical Data Research UnitHistorical Data Research Unit  Historian of…

My DH projects 1. Census project  “Big Data” 2. Scottish Chapbooks Project  Digitization project in collaboration with UG Library 3. Insuring Canadians,  Digitization project in collaboration with Ontario Genealogical Society  My questions are about:  Digital methods and tools – how can they help me achieve research goals  Audience – how can digital communication and products help reach new audiences?

Course Description I  This course is designed to introduce students to new and inter-disciplinary digital history approaches, methodologies, and tools, and to explore applications to text, image, map, and other media sources. There will be flexibility to accommodate the specific disciplines and interests of the students and a special focus will be on the application of digital history to public history practice.

Course Description (continued)  The class will be held once a week and will feature instructor and expert presentations, demonstrations, workshops and discussion. Students will complete weekly readings, contribute to discussions, and complete two projects that apply digital humanities tools. Participation will be evaluated through blog posting, in-class discussion, and peer review.

Learning outcomes  At the end of the course, students will:  Have increased digital history skills, and be able to comprehend and use appropriate language of digital history research and practice  Be able to understand and discuss the advantages of different methodologies of digital history inquiry and presentation  Have learned to collect, manage, and manipulate digital data from various sources  Be able to formulate, direct, and complete a digital history project  Have communicated digital history topics in a public forum

Evaluation  Participation and Blogging (50%)  In-class participation (20%)  Students will be evaluated on the insights they bring to discussions based on readings  Online (blog) participation (30%) and responses  Students will set up and maintain personal blogs that will serve to communications and project updates. Please note that these will be publically accessible (now and for the foreseeable future) so proper standards of decorum are expected. Blogger and Wordpress are two popular blogging sites. Please make sure to use an app that has a comments feature. (Tumblr does not).BloggerWordpress  Blog addresses must be ed to the instructor by September 15.  Specific students will be assigned to lead the blogging each week.  A minimum of six (6) substantial blogs (over 500 words) is required  Students can also set up a Twitter account (optional).Twitter

Evaluation (continued)  Digital Landscaping Project (25%)  There are two options for this project, for which we will discuss appropriate resources and applications in class.  Option A:  Using images, maps, art, and textual descriptions, students will recreate an interesting or significant historical landscape, historical site, or property. Special attention should be paid to change in the landscape. The project will include a short essay ( words) on the digital methods and process of producing the project, as well as an explanation of its historical significance. We will discuss appropriate resources and applications in class.  Option B:  Using floor plans, blueprints, insurance maps, images, art and textual descriptions, students will reconstruct a historic building or historically significant site. Special attention should be paid to change in the building’s purpose or form.  Proposals due October 13  Project due November 3.

Evaluations (continued)  Historical Website or Visualization Project (25%)  Again, two options…  Option A (Historical website)  Students are to construct a website about a historical topic of their choice. You are required to use the knowledge, skills, and research from course workshops and seminars, and encouraged to build on the acquired research from assignment #1. The website will be complimented by a word essay on the  Option B (Historical visualization)  Create a detailed visualizations of a historical topics using at least two of the following formats:  3D modelling using SketchUp and GoogleEarth 3D WarehouseSketchUp  Before and after presentation  A webmap  A visualization based on database or textual analysis (e.g. Voyant)Voyant  Other format that meets with instructor approval.  In-progress projects will be presented in-class (5-10 minutes each) on November 24 for peer and instructor feedback and commentary  Due: December 8

The Keys to Doing Well  Focus is on active learning  Discover, discuss, learn, apply  Requires:  Engagement  Self-directed learning  Collaboration  Pushing yourself into unfamiliar territory  Time commitment  Each class:  Prepare, Participate, Process  Don’t let me hold you back…

Course Resources  The course website is at a.phphttp://jandrewross.ca/history- 9808a.php  the central repository for readings, assignments, and blog roll information  Your blogs  Soon to be set up… today  Send me links to be included on main blog  The WWW…  Your main oyster.

Schedule Sept 8What is Digital History? Sept 15Internet, Media and History Sept 22Digitization and the Infinite Archive Sept 29Image Manipulation and Intellectual Property Oct 6Digital Maps: The Potential of Spatial Humanities Oct 13Text Transformation and Mining Oct 20Big Data and Programming Oct 273D visualization Nov 3Multi-media Exhibition and Web Design (Assignment #1 due) Nov 10Lab Day (no reading) Nov 17Gaming the past Nov 24Project Presentations (in progress) Dec 13D Printing (Dec 8)(no class - Assignment #2 due)

Who are you?  Graduates with several years of research and thinking about history  Questions 1. What technology have you most often used to learn, produce, and share knowledge?  Which are “digital”? 2. How did undergraduate (or work) experience prepare you to use digital approaches? 3. Has digital world changed your view of history and the role of the historian? 4. Which digital topics/tools are you interested in exploring?  Interview each other for 10 minutes… and we’ll discuss.

First of all…

A poll  How many actively use:  Twitter?  Facebook?  Tumblr?  Reddit?  MySpace?  The Deep Web? The Deep Web  Experience with:  Blogging?  Software coding?  Image editing?  Wiki editing?

So what is DH?  DH=Digital History, but more broadly, Digital Humanities  Definitions?  “Digital humanities is a diverse and still-emerging field that encompasses the practice of humanities research in and through information technology, and the exploration of how the humanities may evolve through their engagement with technology, media, and computational methods.” (Digital Humanities Quarterly)  “Diverse and still emerging”  “information technology”  “evolve through… engagement with technology, media, and computational methods.”

Purpose of DH  Spiro 2011  Provide access to cultural information  Enable manipulation of that information  Manage, mashup, mine, map, model  Transform scholarly communication  Enhance Learning and Teaching  Make a public impact

Components of DH  Svensson 2009  Tools  Databases, data visualization, etc.  The Digital as Object of Study  Social media, behavioural changes  Collaboration  Collective approach to research, and tool creation  A Mode of Production  Digital publishing, multimedia  A Ethics of open-ness  Data, products

Your (We)blog  Your blog will serve as:  A thinking and writing stimulator  A participation product showing preparation for class, and processing of class information  Assignment repository  Project log  Peer review and peer help mechanism  Set up your blog:  Any free site is fine: Blogger, or WordPress… (Don’t pay!)  Must be class-specific  Your real name must appear in an obvious place, and ideally a picture (not required)  Send me the link  Add blogs pertaining to your research interests

Blog Evaluation  Blog theme: “What did I learn? What can I teach?”  You must have at least one blog post a week  Including reading week, and the week after the last project presentations (c. Apr 9)  Contributions will be evaluated every week on Monday  Even if there is no specific blog assignment for the week, you should blog. Possible topics:  Your ideas for your own project, and later, project log updates  What other students are doing (blogging or presenting in class)  The guest presentations  Online discoveries:  E.g. Experiments with DH tools; ideas about DH theory and applications  Improvements (widgets etc.) made to your blog  And…?

Today’s Assignment  Set up your blog  Send me the link  Then post on the question:  “How do I see digital tools and approaches affecting my current and future practice of (public) history?” (500 words)  AND comment on someone else’s blog  Please post by Friday night to give a chance for response  And we need three “blog leaders” for next week…  To post by Sunday night on a topic derived from next week’s readings  And help lead the discussion in class

For next week  Blog by Friday (and Sunday if you are a blog leader for next week)  Comment on another blog  Build your blogroll  Do the readings